The Faiyum region consists of a large fertile depression covering 12000 square kilometers in the Libyan Desert located about 60 kilometers southwest of Cairo. The region incorporates archaeological sites dating from the late Paleolithic to the late Roman and Christian periods (circa 8000 BC - AD 641). Until the Paleolithic period a vast salt water lake lay at the heart of the region. This was gradually transformed into the smaller fresh water Lake Moeris which is linked to the Nile by a river arm known as the Bahr Yusuf. The region flourished from the Middle Kingdom (2055 - 1650 BC) onwards but most of the surviving archaeological remains date to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The Greeks called the capital city of the Faiyum Crocodilopolis for it was sacred to the crocodile god Sobek who was worshipped there ...